Lawrence Sinclair
Lawrence W. Sinclair (b. April 4, 3489) is a is a is a Dranish politician of the right-wing Rally for the Republic who formerly served as Minister of Trade and Industry. Life Sinclair was born into an upper-class family in Arfordir Cymru (Loren) and received a high quality education from early age, however rural Loren offered few career opportunities for him after he had completed his studies of management and law at First Dranian Private University. He thus moved to Iglesia Mayor, where he first sought to become a judge, but later opted for a more lucrative career as a tax consultant. He made his way into the capital's upper-class with his professional skills and soon became the preferred tax consultant of celebrities and politicians. This reputation propelled him toward a parliamentary bid in the 3517 general election. As a member of the business community, he reasoned that the RFR was his natural political home. Politics Sinclair spent some years on the backbenches during the rule of the Alliance of the Left, which boosted spending and increased taxes. His vocal criticism of the government's policies gained him fame in his party and in 3520 he became fiscal spokesman for the RFR, and in December 3523 Minister of Finance. Originally pursuing a moderate approach to fiscal issues, disapproving of 'savage' cuts and proposing a moderate reduction in taxes by pushing the top tax rate below 40%, he soon realized that the opposition, and even the coalition partner KDF, were unwilling to pass his bidget, partly because they opposed consolidation measures such as a general GST and 'moderate' spending cuts. He later endorsed a tougher fiscal agenda as proposed by Popular Party leader Joaquin Banez. However, nothing of this eventually passed Parliament, making his tenure a failure in the public eye. After the landslide defeat of the RFR in 3527, he tried to become party Chairman, but his reputation was severely damaged and he was easily defeated by businessman Eduardo Rivera. Upon becoming Minister of Trade and Industry when the RFR re-entered government in 3532, he launched another attempt to liberalize the economy, and succeeded partially, ending restrictions on foreign investment and re-introducing private-public partnerships among other measures. However, for most of his tenure, he presided over rising unemployment and a recession, which he blamed on the policies enacted by the previous administration under Sean Yates. In November 3535, after Parliament had passed the highly controversial 'Protect Our Air Act' (POAA), which would have banned the production of cars not using environmentally friendly fuels and imposed 'highly restrictive' pollution standards on industry, Sinclair stepped down, saying: "I cannot justify doing the dirty work of shutting plants down across the nation in a time of high unemployment. I do not want to be the man ordering the destruction of countless jobs and plunging countless hard-working people in misery, and that in a time of crisis, recession and rampant unemployment." He then became RFR parliamentary leader until 3538, when, in a surprise upset ahead of that year's parliamentary election, he was ousted by nationalist writer Izumi Otaka as RFR candidate in his constituency. Category:Dranian people Category:RFR politicians